Editorial: Police roadblock

Wednesday

Aug 27, 2008 at 12:01 AMAug 27, 2008 at 3:40 AM

What is hard to fathom is why lawmakers did not see fit to fully fund the state’s six main police training academies as requested by Patrick, a decision that will close academies in Plymouth, Boylston and New Bedford and overload the three remaining sites in Randolph, Reading and Springfield.

The Legislature found the support to restore about half of Gov. Deval Patrick’s $122 million in budget vetoes, including $10.7 million for the Office of Tourism and Travel and $5 million for water and sewer rate relief.

But what is hard to fathom is why lawmakers did not see fit to fully fund the state’s six main police training academies as requested by Patrick, a decision that will close academies in Plymouth, Boylston and New Bedford and overload the three remaining sites in Randolph, Reading and Springfield.

We have to ask, and we’re sure police chiefs and communities leaders around the region will join in, where are our legislators’ priorities?

Part of Patrick’s victory in 2006 was based on his promise to put 1,000 new police officers on the streets in Massachusetts cities and towns. That is an impossible task unless they are trained and certified as required by law.

Patrick included the money in his budget request but the House and Senate opted to scale back the amount, leaving a $600,000 deficit. The Massachusetts Municipal Police Training Committee was forced to close the three academies and there could be more belt-tightening when another round of cuts is due next week.

State law mandates all communities have trained police officers, whether full-time or intermittent. The six academies trained about 1,400 recruits each year, with the candidates going through a rigorous 800-hour, 20-week course on everything from physical fitness training to criminal investigation.

In addition, the academies offer in-service training to the state’s 18,000 police officers in such areas as evolving practices over evidence gathering, how to handle domestic violence situations, use of force and firearms training and certification, among a slew of other programs.

Now, there will be wait lists at the three remaining academies and vacancies will go unfilled without trained recruits, forcing communities to spend more in overtime.

In addition, many of the 120 communities served by Plymouth, for instance – including towns on the Cape and Islands – and those in Southeastern Massachusetts that had sent recruits to New Bedford will be forced to send their recruits at least to Randolph, adding enormous fuel costs to the training budget, if they can get in at all. Other areas such as the Route 128 to Interstate 495 belt will have similar problems with the closure of the Boylston academy.

Patrick and top public safety officials are pushing to meet with legislative leaders to find a way to restore the money. We’d urge lawmakers to find the time and the money to pay for this necessity.

Public safety and education are the bedrock services of local government and it is the duty of the state Legislature to ensure those needs are met.

It’s wonderful to have an extra $10 million to draw tourists to Massachusetts but if they and their belongings aren’t safe, they won’t be coming back.